The Marine
by derangedperson
Summary: Luffy is captured by a Marine officer...but things aren't what they seem.
1. Capture

**Well, here's my latest opus. This is basically an homage to the Michael Douglas movie "The Game." Enjoy.**

**One Piece and its characters belong to Eiichiro Oda.**

* * *

"You're MINE, Straw Hat Luffy!"

"You'll have to catch me first, you stupid Marine!"

"Oh, when I get my hands on you..."

It was May 5--Luffy's birthday--and the Thousand Sunny had been anchored at a remote pier near a large village. Once docked, the Straw Hat Pirates made their way into the town to stock up on supplies. Luffy had been more excited than usual, and in his excitement he sped through every building in town in no time. Since he finished touring the village early and was now bored, he told his crew that he was going to return to the ship and wait for them. Unfortunately, when he returned to the Sunny, he found an unpleasant surprise waiting for him in the form of a Marine officer. The officer was a bit shorter than your average Marine, with long black hair, black gloves, a deep voice, and a mask concealing the lower part of their face. Evidently, this was either a rogue officer or some scrub trying to make a name for themselves. Either way, Luffy wasn't going to let this one get their hands on him.

The Marine initially tried to shoot him, but Luffy's rubber body deflected all the officer's bullets. Since the officer hadn't bothered to bring any more ammunition, it became a one-on-one contest that stretched all over the ship. Punches and kicks were traded back and forth at a lightning-fast clip, neither combatant tiring in the least. They had fought to a standstill, but the Marine grabbed a metal pole that was lying on the deck and began swinging it at Luffy. Using his Devil Fruit powers, Luffy bent, stretched and squashed every which way to avoid the blows.

Luffy taunted, "Come on! I thought Marines were supposed to be great fighters!"

"Oh, we are," the Marine answered. "I'm just gettin' warmed up." The officer tossed the pole aside, reached for their belt, and grabbed a smoke bomb. Luffy braced himself as the Marine threw the bomb to the ground, causing a thick cloud of white smoke to envelop the deck. This maneuver left Luffy blind and open to attack as he threw punches and kicks in every direction in an attempt to hit something. All of a sudden, he heard a scream behind him and whipped his head around to see the Marine coming at him full speed, trying to tackle him. The way that Luffy jumped in the air to avoid it was almost reflexive, but when he left the ground, he failed to notice the crow's nest was directly above him. As the officer hit the ground and rolled over, a loud crash was heard, and looking upwards brought the sight of Luffy hitting the underside of the crow's nest at full speed and falling to the ground with a mighty thud. As Luffy came to, the Marine seized the chance and cuffed Luffy's hands with sea stone. Grabbing a coil of rope, the officer bound his arms tight around his torso, finishing off with his ankles and thighs, tying them as tightly as possible.

After tying the last knot, the officer grinned and said, "I told you you were mine, Straw Hat."

Luffy gritted his teeth and said, "My crew will come for me! They'll know I'm missing and they'll come after you, and when they find you, they'll kick your ass!" He struggled against his bonds as his captor walked away. "You won't get away with this, you bastard!" With the sea stone nullifying his Devil Fruit powers, Luffy squirmed and struggled as hard as he could to try and loosen the ropes before noticing his captor reapproaching him and holding a roll of duct tape.

"Did you hear me?" Luffy screamed. "You won't get away with thMMMMMMPH!" Unwilling to listen to any more of the prisoner's ranting, the Marine pulled a strip of tape from the roll and slapped it over Luffy's mouth, winding the tape around the back of his head three times to secure the gag. Once satisfied with its tightness, the Marine tore the roll loose, leaving Luffy to struggle and scream muffled threats.

"This is gonna make my career," the Marine said, looking down at the grand prize. "Straw Hat Luffy. One of the Eleven Supernovas. God, I can't wait to turn you in."

"MMMMMMMMMM! MMMMM GMMMNMMM GHMMM NMMM!" ("Dammit! I'm gonna kill you!")

"I never dreamed in a million years it would be this easy. Once Smoker hears about this..." The Marine bent over and tried to pick Luffy up over their shoulder, but found him to be too heavy. Instead, the officer settled for dragging him by the scruff of his neck. "Like I was saying, once Smoker hears about this, he'll have a heart attack."

"MMMHMMM MMMMM MMMMM HMMMMMMMMM!" ("Untie me RIGHT NOW!")

"Scream all you want, Straw Hat. When your crew gets back, they're as good as mine."

* * *

It was a lot of stuff.

The Straw Hats all knew it was Luffy's birthday--it was impossible for them to forget May 5, since he had been dropping hints almost every day for the past week. The previous night, Usopp had sat down with Luffy and asked him what he wanted this year. Three hours later, Usopp walked out of his captain's quarters with a book's worth of requests. Obviously there were some outlandish ones (a three-story leaning tower of meat, for instance) that couldn't be worked in at all, so the crew narrowed it down to a list of requests that they could fulfill. Along with the items they needed to restock the ship, all the things they bought for Luffy's celebration were just too much for everyone to carry, forcing Franky to build a cart that he and Chopper could pull along.

As he pulled the cart containing their goods, Franky asked, "Is it just me, or did we buy an awful lot of stuff?"

"It's not just you, Cyborg-san," Robin answered. "We needed to buy all this, both to restock our supplies and to celebrate our captain's birthday."

"I understand that, but two crates of cake mix?"

Sanji shrugged and said, "He wanted a big cake."

"A _humongous_ cake," Usopp corrected.

"All that just makes me wonder exactly how humongous it's gonna be," Zoro said.

"Settle down, guys," Sanji said. "I'm not using both crates. We'll need some for dessert in the future."

"Makes sense." Everyone walked along for a few more minutes before Chopper broke the silence.

"I can't wait to see what he'll think of everything we got him. I really hope he likes it."

"It has been a long, long time since I have celebrated a birthday, young Chopper," Brook said. "I can barely wait to see the look on his face when everything is prepared...Oh! How could I see his face? I have no eyes! SKULL JOKE!"

"Besides," Zoro said, "it's gonna take a while to get everything ready. I just hope he hasn't burned the ship down."


	2. Attempted Escape

The Marine dragged Luffy into his quarters, trying to keep a firm grip on his body as he squirmed violently to try and get away. "Damn, kid," the Marine said. "You've got a lot of fight in ya. That's commendable."

Luffy grumbled muffled obscenities through his gag as the Marine tossed him onto his bed. "Be a good boy and stay right there," the officer threatened. "If you don't...you're goin' overboard." Reaching for Luffy's head, the officer grabbed his straw hat and put it on, further angering the young captain.

"Fits me nicely, don't you think?"

"MMMMMMMMM!!! GMMMMMM MMMM MMMMM HMMMM MMMMM HMMMM!" ("ASSHOLE! DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY HAT!")

"It's gonna make a damn nice trophy once I have your bounty. Now you stay here and behave."

Luffy's eyes narrowed as the Marine left, slammimg the door shut and locking it. He stayed still on the bed, listening as the officer's footsteps grew fainter. When it was finally quiet, Luffy rolled out of his bed and onto the floor with a dull thud. After adjusting to the darkness, he began to scan the room for anything sharp that he could use to cut his bonds. It took him five minutes to figure out he wouldn't find anything on the floor, and so he began attempting to get vertical. Since the sea stone was rendering his powers useless, he had to place his back to the wall and slowly scoot upward until he was standing. He laughed in satisfaction to himself when he finally did get up, and began hopping towards his clothes cabinet. Surely he had something sharp in there.

* * *

As the Straw Hats approached the Thousand Sunny, Chopper said, "Guys, something doesn't feel right."

"What do you mean, Chopper?" Usopp asked.

"Usually Luffy's bouncing all over the place. He did say he was going back to the ship."

"Maybe he got sidetracked," Sanji said. "I mean, this _is_ Luffy we're talking about."

"Yeah," Zoro added. "He could get sidetracked by a blank piece of paper."

Chopper nodded knowingly, and everyone chuckled at Zoro's joke as they made their way towards the ship.

* * *

_Wow...what a neat view,_ Luffy thought to himself.

He had gotten halfway to his clothes cabinet when he caught a glimpse of the sunset out of a porthole. After staring at it for a few minutes, he quickly snapped back to reality and began hopping towards his cabinet again. When he reached it, he opened the door with his chin and started moving his shirts around with his head, trying to get a good view inside. After rummaging through and not finding anything, he sighed in disappointment when suddenly, a glint of metal caught his attention. The object was lying on the bottom of the cabinet floor, and after Luffy moved enough of the junk around, he found a pair of scissors.

"YMMMPH!" ("YES!")

Just as he grabbed the scissors in his hands, however, he heard the Marine's footsteps approaching the door. Panicking, he slammed the cabinet door shut with his head and hopped back to his bed, diving back on it the way he was before just as the door opened. The Marine walked into the room, surveyed it and said, "Well. I'm impressed. You managed to stay right here, exactly as I said. You know, I really thought you would be a lot more trouble..." The Marine's rant tapered off in Luffy's ears as he opened the scissors and began to cut the ropes around his torso. As he moved the blade up and down, he thought of his crew and what would happen to them if they walked into this situation. Surely they would all be captured as well, and this son of a bitch would bask in the glory ten times over. He shook his head and continued to cut.

"Are you listening to me, Straw Hat?"

Luffy stopped cutting, his eyes widening with surprise.

"Are you deaf? Were you listening?!"

Luffy nodded his head. The officer's head tilted in suspicion.

"You hiding something?" The Marine approached his bed as Luffy shook his head and made muffled pleas to the contrary.

"Don't lie to me, Straw Hat--what's behind your back?" Luffy tried to squirm away from the Marine's grasp, but he was simply shoved over onto his belly as the scissors were discovered. The Marine grabbed them and gloated, "I knew it. I knew you were hiding something from me." Luffy groaned in defeat as the officer continued to gloat. Suddenly, he was whipped over onto his back to see the masked face of the Marine inches from his.

Jabbing a finger inches from Luffy's face, the Marine warned, "You pull something like that again and I'll kill you myself. You understand?"

Luffy nodded.

"Good. Don't let me catch you..." The officer was cut off when there were voices heard outside. Luffy's eyes widened in panic--his friends were back.

"Sounds like we have guests. I guess I'll say hello."

Luffy screamed in anger and rage, struggling mightily against his bonds as the Marine locked him in his room. He could feel the fibers grinding into his flesh, but he didn't care. He had to get loose. He had to warn them.


	3. Unmasked

Franky pulled the cart into the belly of the ship and began to unload it as the Straw Hats took in the silence. The overall effect made them more than a bit uneasy, as the fact that Luffy wasn't tearing up the place, quite frankly, freaked them out.

"You were right, reindeer-gorilla," Franky said. "This _is_ a bit too quiet."

"I hope we don't have a stowaway or something," Usopp murmured.

"We shouldn't," Brook said. "This was a very isolated dock. I don't think anyone knew about it except Nami."

"Speaking of which, where is Nami-san?" Sanji asked.

"I haven't seen her since we entered town, Cook-san," Robin answered. "Maybe she returned to the ship as well."

"I'll go look for her. Franky, send one of the crates of cake mix, and some meat, veggies and fish up to the kitchen. I'll give you a call on the intercom when I find Luffy or Nami."

"Go for it, bro," Franky said.

Sanji ran past the boats in the garage and began to ascend the stairs when he was stopped dead in his tracks. Usopp had been right--there was a stowaway.

He was staring into the masked face of the Marine.

"Black Leg Sanji," the Marine smirked. A gun was jammed into Sanji's side as the officer ordered, "Walk. Don't make any sudden moves." The cook put his hands in the air and did as he was told, slowly making his way back downstairs to the rest of his crewmates.

* * *

Zoro stood by the intercom, waiting for Sanji's word. After a few minutes, he pressed the speaker button and said, "Sanji, you there?" No answer.

"Sanji, did you get lost or something? Where are you?"

No answer.

"Oh God, I don't like this," Usopp whimpered.

"Sanji! ANSWER ME!"

"I'm over here, Zoro!"

The swordsman turned his head to see Sanji being led back to the group by a figure wearing Luffy's straw hat and dressed in Marine gear. But this wasn't some ordinary Marine. He'd never seen a Marine completely conceal their face like this.

The Straw Hats stood and held their ground as the Marine approached with Sanji. Usopp readied his Kabuto as the masked assailant stopped across the final stretch of catwalk before them. The officer took the gun out of Sanji's side and said, "Get over there." The cook rubbed the spot where the gun had been and walked over to the rest of the group.

"Who are you?" Usopp asked.

"A Marine."

"What have you done with Luffy?" Chopper growled.

"Straw Hat Luffy has been turned in to the Marines."

"You're lying," Zoro said. "There's no way you could get him to a Marine stronghold that fast."

"Well, if I'm lying, Roronoa Zoro...why am I wearing his hat?"

No one could answer. But...there was no way that could be true. No way.

"Where's Nami?" Robin asked.

The Marine reached into the coat and produced Nami's Perfect Climatact. "What the hell...?" Franky mumbled.

"She has been turned in to the Marines as well. If you want to escape their fates, lay down your weapons and surrender."

Zoro narrowed his eyes at the assailant and growled, "Go to hell." Drawing his swords, he advanced on the Marine only to stop when the officer began to laugh. It wasn't an evil laugh, a triumphant laugh, or a gloating laugh. It was more of a..._friendly_ laugh.

Everyone looked awkwardly at each other, wondering what the hell was going on, when the Marine spoke.

"Wow, Zoro--you were really about to fight me!" As the Marine spoke, the deep voice got higher and more feminine. "Man, did I ever have you guys going! This was more fun than I ever thought it would be!"

Sanji's eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped. "N...Nami-san?!"

The Marine's head lowered and put a hand to the mask and the sunglasses, removing both at the same time. The officer's head raised, removing the straw hat in the process. The long black hair fell off to reveal a brilliant orange underneath. The gloves came off, revealing a pair of feminine hands. The Tone Dial fell away from the Marine's face, the voice returning to normal.

Nami answered, "You called, Sanji?"


	4. What Have You Done

Luffy was hurt, and he knew it.

Rolling off of the bed a second time had resulted in a loud cracking noise and a sensation that tore through his body like a thunderbolt. He let out a muffled scream and tried to flex his fingers, only to find that after the fall, he'd driven the sea stone handcuffs directly into his back. He could feel blood beginning to flow as he groaned in pain and resumed his struggle. God only knew what that bastard was doing to his friends.

He shook off the pain and began to search his room again for something sharp. He looked under his bed. Nothing.

He got upright, hopped back over to his clothes cabinet, and looked through it again. Nothing.

One more option.

He hopped over to his closet, put his back to the door, and opened it. With nothing to lean back against, he fell over and landed on his side. Luffy cursed under his breath as he glanced at the floor. After moving around, he came across a small dagger that Vivi had given to him shortly before they left Alabasta. He slipped it out of its sheath, put it upright against the wall using some dirty clothes as a foundation, and began to cut the ropes around his torso.

* * *

_"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!"_

The revelation that the Marine was Nami after all caused both a huge sigh of relief and gasps of shock to resonate throughout the crew. Franky was pointing and gaping in surprise, Usopp and Chopper had fainted, Robin's face registered subtle shock, Zoro and Sanji looked back at each other and back at Nami again, and Brook's jaw had dropped...right off his head.

Franky stammered, "H...how did you..."

"Oh, the clothes? I had a tailor on the last island make this up for me. Looks pretty good on me, don'tcha think?"

"OH, NAMI-SAN, EVERYTHING LOOKS GOOD ON YOU~!" Sanji cried, hearts floating over his head. Zoro shook his head and said, "That took guts, Nami. Did you do it on your own or...?"

"Yeah, I did it myself. That's why I left so early."

Robin roused Usopp and Chopper from their catatonia and said, "I guess that explains why we haven't seen you all day, Miss Navigator."

After rubbing his eyes, Chopper focused his attention on Nami, yelling, "Where's Luffy?"

"Yeah, what'd you do with Straw Hat?"

"Is he okay?"

Everyone began to inquire about Luffy's well-being at once, with Nami diffusing the situation by holding her hands up and saying, "Guys...guys...GUYS! Luffy's fine. I haven't done anything to him. He's just a little..." She shrugged her shoulders and grinned mischievously. "...tied up at the moment."

Usopp cocked his eyebrow and slyly said, "I didn't know you had a kinky side, Nami!"

Nami's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment as she said, "Shut up, Usopp!"

Brook reattached his jawbone and said, "So, Miss Nami is this mysterious character, Luffy is safe, and we have a party to organize. Shall we?"

Everyone agreed and went upstairs to the kitchen to help prepare.

* * *

_Just a little more...just a little more..._

Suddenly, Luffy felt the rope go slack. His heart soared as he frantically shook his body around, sending the rope tumbling down to the floor. Now that his arms were free, he could work on bringing them to his front and untying his legs.

Needless to say, without his flexibility, he wasn't looking forward to it.

He got down on his side and began to stretch his arms and feet back towards each other. Every once in a while he would stop to rest and try again, hoping to get it done as fast as he could--his legs and arms were burning with pain, both from the rope and the stretching. Luffy gave one last big stretch and felt his feet go through the hole made by his arms. He scooted his hands down his legs and up to his chest, grabbing for the loose end of the duct tape first. Thankfully it was right on his left cheek, leaving just enough length to get a good grip. He raised his hands over his head and slowly peeled the tape off of his mouth, making sure to avoid ripping out his hair. It hurt like hell, but after 10 minutes, he had it off and was breathing heavily.

"Finally," he said to himself. "Hang on, guys! I'm coming!"

He began to work on the ropes around his ankles and thighs. Hopefully, he wouldn't be too late.

* * *

The party was beginning to shape up nicely. The cake was shaped like the Straw Hats' Jolly Roger with a small buttercream sugar figure of Luffy sitting on top of it, the food was exactly to his liking--meat, meat, and more meat--and cooked accordingly, there was beer and wine aplenty, and Brook was at the piano. The only thing missing, of course, was the birthday boy. But there was one question that still burned in everyone's brain, and Sanji was the one to ask it.

"Nami-san, there's one thing we're still in the dark about."

"What's that?"

"You said Luffy was tied up at the moment. What did you do?"

"Well, you guys remember how crazy his last birthday bash was, don't you?"

"Oh yeah," Usopp chuckled. "It took us _weeks_ to get Merry back in shape."

"I guess this year, I decided to be a bit more proactive. While you guys were in town, I was back here doing this Marine thing. Basically, I wanted to make sure Luffy was under control until you guys got everything ready."

"So you tied him up? You know that wouldn't work," Zoro said.

"I know. I used a pair of sea stone cuffs to make sure he didn't stretch and put him in his room. I figured that either he'd fall asleep or try to get loose. Knowing him, he probably fell asleep."

Robin said, "That's all well and good, Miss Navigator, but did you make sure that Luffy knew it was you behind that mask?"

Nami went slightly pale. "Uh...No. I guess I didn't."

"You didn't hurt him, did you?"

"NO! When I shot him..."

"Wait a minute!" Franky shouted. "You _shot_ him?!"

"I used rubber balls! I didn't use live ammunition!"

"Why the hell would you do that, Nami?"

"Do you think I shot him _after_ I put the sea stone on him? I didn't! I did that all beforehand!"

Usopp shook his head and mumbled, "That's not right."

Zoro put his hand to his face and sighed heavily. "I know I'm gonna regret asking this, but...what did you say to keep him in his room?"

"I...told him to stay there or I'd throw him overboard." As soon as she said 'overboard,' there was a collective explosion amongst the rest of the Straw Hats. What was once a bustling party atmosphere had degenerated into a torrent of anger and disbelief. Zoro glared at Nami and said, "You went _way_ too far. Just telling him to stay there would have been enough!"

"Hold on, Marimo," Sanji said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "If Nami-san says she didn't mean to hurt Luffy, that's good enough for me. Her methods may have been excessive, but she had her heart in the right place. I think it's less important to point our fingers at her than it is to figure out where Luffy is and how hurt he might be."

Nami took his hand and, with gratitude bleeding through her voice, said, "Thank you, Sanji."

"I would do anything to defend your honor, Nami-san."

"Nami, you'd better go find him," Chopper said. "He's probably scared out of his mind right now."

"Right!" Nami immediately ran out of the kitchen onto the deck to begin her search as the remaining Straw Hats got back to work. She prayed that Luffy would be okay as she ran towards his quarters, only to discover that the door had been torn off. She entered his room to find his bed empty and his closet door wide open. Looking inside, she saw coils of rope laying on the floor next to a ball of duct tape. Further inspection found the sea stone handcuffs on the other side of the closet. As Nami held the rope in her hands, she felt a slight wetness on her fingers. She raised her hand to look and found that they were stained red.

Oh God...

"Luffy! _Where are you?"_


	5. The Healing Process

Luffy had escaped from his room minutes after untying his torso. He made short work of the ropes around his ankles and thighs and managed to pick the lock on the handcuffs with a toothpick he found on the floor of his closet. He had used a Gomu Gomu No Rocket to break down the door and was now tearing through the belly of the ship looking for the Marine and his crewmates. If he was ever going to see them again, he had to hurry.

Checking Franky's garage found that all of the spare boats were still there, so the Marine was probably still on the ship. Unfortunately, before he could go any further, the wound in his back began to flare up and the indentations in his skin from the rope were causing a dull throbbing pain all over his body. Luffy made his way to the infirmary to get a better look at himself, and he was shocked at what he saw. His sides were bruised and bloody from the falls he'd taken and the pressure from the rope, a few chunks of hair on the back of his head were missing, and the wound in his back had stained his blue vest a dark crimson. Removing his vest, Luffy discovered a deep cut near his tailbone that he bandaged with some gauze. Next he began to look for some cream to dull the burning, but ultimately found none. After checking the rest of the rooms downstairs, he ran back up to the main deck to catch his bearings, but not before he ran into Nami, knocking her to the ground.

He gasped at the sight of her and screamed, "NAMI! Oh God, you're okay!" He picked her up and threw his arms around her, not noticing that she was wearing the Marine's jacket and shirt. "Nami, I thought I'd never..."

"Luffy, I'm so glad you're okay!" she answered, hugging him back. Luffy groaned in pain at the contact.

"Oh! Oh jeez, I'm..." Nami immediately let him go, and once she was able to get a good look at him, she was shocked. His entire body was a mess of burn marks and swelled skin. His arms and sides were heavily bruised, and his back... "Oh my God...Luffy, I'm so sorry."

"What do you have to be sorry for, Nami? You're safe. You must have caught the Marine, because you're wearing his coat."

"Luffy, you don't understand!" Tears were welling in Nami's eyes as she struggled to explain. "I didn't catch the Marine!"

"You didn't? Why are you wearing his coat, then?"

The tears began to fall as she put her hand in her pants pocket and pulled out the Tone Dial. She pressed the apex of the shell, put it a few inches from her mouth, and said, "Because I _am_ the Marine."

The low rumble of her distorted voice shocked Luffy to his core. "Wh...why, Nami?"

"It was all for your birthday! I had to do something to keep you occupied until we had everything ready!"

"So...everyone's..."

"They're fine, Luffy. Everyone's waiting for you in the dining room."

This was unprecedented. How could his navigator, the person he was closest to out of everyone, do this to him? "You...you did this to me for a _party?_"

Nami said nothing.

"Answer me, Nami!"

She looked up at him and sadly nodded her head. If Luffy was a lesser man, he would have beaten her into the ground. But that thought never crossed his mind as he took Nami into his arms and gave her a hug. She was shocked by his reaction, so much so that she dropped to her knees and wept. Luffy slowly knelt down beside her and explained.

"Nami, what you did to me was wrong. There were a million other things you could have done--you could have sent me off to run some errands. You could have told me there was a warrior on this island that wanted to fight me. Anything like that would have been fine. But you scared me half to death with this whole Marine thing. I really thought I would never see you guys again--that's how convincing you were. But I understand why you did it. For what it's worth, thank you. Besides, I knew it was you the whole time."

Nami immediately stopped crying and yelled, "WHAT?! HOW?!"

"Well, when we were fighting, the way you used the metal pole was just like when you use your Climatact. And when you tied me up, your glasses slipped and I caught a glimpse of your eyes. That's when I knew you weren't gonna throw me overboard."

"Why didn't you tell me that before?!"

Luffy shrugged his shoulders and answered, "Because you taped my mouth shut."

Nami slapped her forehead in frustration. Normally she would have throttled Luffy for saying something like that, but her better instincts took over. She smiled at him and said, "Come on, Luffy. Those rope burns are probably killing you. Let's get that taken care of." She took him by the hand and led him into her quarters, sitting him down on her bed before retrieving some aloe lotion from her medicine cabinet. Luffy had never been in the girl's quarters before, and his eyes wandered around the room taking everything in before Nami came back.

She sat behind him and squirted some lotion into her hand. "Here, Luffy. This might sting a little, but it'll help." She touched her hand to his skin, and Luffy let out a groan of pain upon contact. "Owww...that hurts!"

"Just hold still," Nami said. As she continued to apply the lotion, the soothing sensation of the aloe quickly took over Luffy as she gently rubbed her hands along his back, arms and legs. Luffy sighed with relief as the aloe dulled the pain around his body, smiling at Nami's touch. She placed his straw hat back on his head and kissed the back of his neck, causing Luffy to lean back and lay his head in her lap, smiling up at her. He closed his eyes and said, "Nami...that really helps a lot."

She smiled and replied, "Thanks. We can have Chopper take a look at this cut on your back, but other than that, I think you'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." When she finished, she asked him, "You ready to party?"

Luffy grinned his big toothy grin and answered, "OH YEAH!" As they approached the door to the dining room, Nami said, "Just so you know, they're probably gonna be shocked when they see the condition you're in."

"I've been in worse condition than this, Nami. Don't worry about it." With Luffy's reassurance, they opened the door to find...an empty room. Where there once was life, now there was none. Confused, Luffy reached for the light switch and flipped it on. As soon as the room lit up, everyone jumped out from their hiding places and began to yell "SURPRISE!" but were stopped short after seeing Luffy's condition. Chopper approached him first, saying, "Let me take a look at you quick." He looked over Luffy's body up and down, stopping when he saw the gauze. As Chopper removed the bandage, his eyes widened and he said, "That's a pretty big gash...but not deep enough to require stitches. Just remember to replace the bandages and you'll be fine. As for the rope burns, those should go away in a day or two."

Luffy sighed with relief, thanking Chopper for taking a look. As the reindeer took his seat, Zoro asked, "You okay, Luffy?"

"I'm fine, Zoro. Sore, but I'm fine. Nami apologized to me, and we got everything straightened out."

"There's nothing more to worry about, guys," Nami insisted. "The Marine is dead."

"Well, it's good to see you're still yourself, Straw Hat. We were all worried about you," Franky said.

"You don't have to worry about me, Franky. I can always get out of jams like that! What kind of captain would I be if I couldn't?"

"I suppose."

"Ah, enough of that. LET'S PARTY!" He shut the door behind him as Brook's music filled the air, prepared to celebrate until everyone collapsed. As Sanji passed out the food, the familiar strains of Binks' Sake rang out over the seas as the world's most infamous pirate captain celebrated his latest birthday with his friends. The party continued well into the night, with plenty of music, cake and drinks to go around. And, perhaps best of all, there were no Marines in sight.

--END--


End file.
